Evidence-based Recommendations for Natural Bodybuilding Contest Preparation: Nutrition and Supplementation.

Citation: Helms et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2014, 11:20

Access: Eric Helms Recommendations natural bodybuilding 2014 Nutrition & Supps

Who is the lead author or research group?

Eric Helms from the Sports Performance Research in New Zealand (SPRINZ) at AUT Millennium Institute is the lead author. Eric is a powerhouse in the world of natural bodybuilding. Eric wrote the sections on caloric intake, macronutrients, psychosocial issues and “peak week”. Alan Aragon is equally well respected in the field of nutrition and body composition. He wrote the sections on nutrient timing and meal frequency. This author combination makes it a must-read for anyone interested in improving their body composition.

Type of Research:

Review of all pertinent research papers in the main electronic search databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, SPORT Discuss and CINAHL.

Rigour of The Research

Cons

A narrative review style had to be employed because the available literature was very limited. This means the usual systematic review or meta-analysis process was not possible.

The recommendations are based on the expert opinion of the authors, rather than being backed up be pooled data from multiple studies. This increases the risk of bias in the recommendations.

Pros

That being said, both of these authors are real experts in the field and have a history of conducting quality research. Therefore, the risk of bias is likely to be low.

Key Findings

Caloric intake and weight loss:

Weekly weight loss (% of body weight) 0.5-1%.
- A caloric deficit of 500kcal per day is optimal.
- Higher kcal restrictions increase the risk of lean muscle mass loss and negative metabolic adaptations.

Macronutrients:

Protein (g/kg of LBM) 2.3-3.1.
- This equates to about 2g/kg of actual body weight if lean body mass cannot be calculated.

Fat (% of total calories) 15-30%.
- When training is intense preference carbohydrate and drop fat closer to 15%

Carbohydrate (% of total calories) remaining.
- Usually between 4-7g/kg depending on phase of training

Ketogenic diets:

Offer no metabolic advantage.
May negatively impact training intensity.
Requires much more research.

Nutrient Timing:

If training only once per day nutrient timing is of low importance. The focus should be on hitting daily energy and macronutrient targets.
If training twice a day nutrient timing becomes much more important.
Having protein of 0.4-.0.5gkg before and after training is beneficial, as is glycogen replenishment via carbohydrate intake.

Meal Frequency:

3-6 meals per day.
Each meal to contain high-quality protein sources that are a minimum of 20g and contain 3g of Leucine.

Supplements

Supplements with a solid evidence base for natural bodybuilding and a safe track record:

Creatine:
- Increases Phosphocreatine stores in muscles.
- Increases muscle size and strength.
- 3g per day is adequate.
- Creatine monohydrate is the most effective.

Beta-Alanine:
- Increases Carnosine in muscle that buffers ph.
- Improves intense exercise bouts lasting 60-240 seconds and more than 240 seconds.
- May increase lean body mass due to higher work capacity.
- 4g per day is the dose used in the study.

Supplements with potential benefit for natural bodybuilders but more research needed:

Caffeine
- Only shown to be beneficial at 5-6mg/kg.
- More research to see if beneficial at lower doses.

HMB Beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate (HMB)
- A metabolite of Leucine.
- Shown to reduce catabolism in non-bodybuilding populations.

Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)
- Potential of benefit if taken in-between meals to prevent the refractory period of muscle protein synthesis.
- More work needed on bodybuilders already consuming protein at 2g/kg or more.

Citrulline Malate
- Suggested to work by improving ammonia clearance, and reduce lactic acid accumulation.
- Awaiting research on bodybuilders.

Supplements with no benefit for natural bodybuilders:

Arginine
Glutamine – unless needed for gastrointestinal health

Peak Week

Dehydration practices to get “Dry” increase the risk of losing the look of “muscularity”. Extreme practices can be dangerous for health.
Carbohydrate loading in the week leading up to the event can be muscle sparing and may increase muscle looking “full”. It must be practised for best effect.

Psycho-social issues:

Increase incidence of eating disorders in male and female bodybuilders. It is hard to know if is the bodybuilding that causes the disorders, or if people with the disorders are attracted to bodybuilding, or if it’s a combination.
Coaches must remain vigilant.

Reviewers insight into how the research can be applied to people with Diabetes.

The research findings and recommendations stand true and are equally applicable to competitive physique athletes living with diabetes.

But, there are a number of key considerations for diabetic competitors I want to highlight.

Creatine is known to increase strength. While this is beneficial it’s important to realise that increased strength leads to more training stress which increases the production of counter-regulatory stress hormones which increase blood glucose and can cause hyperglycaemia. There is also the potential for increased hypoglycaemia risk after training when these stress hormones wear off. Due to the increases in performance, the trained muscle tissue will be more sensitive to insulin on account of increased translocation of GLUT-4 (glucose transporters). Therefore, you may need to take more insulin during training to combat high blood glucose and less insulin after to combat hypoglycaemia. Research on the effects of creatine on blood glucose is next to non-existent. Based on mine and many other tightly controlled people with diabetes the effects of creatine on blood glucose are highly inter-individual. If you decide to use – be mindful these adaptations can occur and learn to adjust your insulin dosing as and when needed.

Peak Week and Getting ‘Dry’ – If you are not lean enough, no amount of water and electrolyte manipulation will make a difference to your physique. It’ll probably make it worse. I see so many men and women overthink the final week of their prep. In fact, many many people have their peak week planned months before they’re in shape. Get lean first, then worry about peak week. From a diabetes perspective, be mindful that the carb loading phase typically requires LESS bolus/basal than you anticipate. You have been highly active and in a calorie deficit for weeks – your muscle tissues are crying out for carbs.

Keep your insulin tight and be tactful – work the dose. The last thing you want to do is to overdo the carbs and soften your look. There is only so much carbohydrate your muscle tissues can store – until you spill over and ruin your look. I talk about this in greater detail in the bodybuilding guide section.
BCAA – Generally speaking Branch Chain Amino Acids are a waste of money. However, they can be used in certain contexts. One scenario, in particular, is when training fasted. If you are tight on time, such as in the morning and need to get your training out of the way, but don’t have time to wait an hour for your breakfast to digest, then BCAAs are ideal to protect muscle tissue and promote recovery. They digest incredibly quickly, allowing you to get into the gym and get your work done. Remember, fitness must add to your life, not take away from it. This includes a sustainable training schedule you can stick to.

If you want to learn more about bodybuilding and diabetes. I highly recommend you check out The Diabetic’s Guide to Bodybuilding and Photoshoot Prep out

All of the recommendations are valid for people with diabetes who want to compete in bodybuilding, or just want to improve body composition.

A few special considerations:

If you have kidney issues a protein intake of 2g/kg is not recommended.

If you choose a lower carbohydrate approach for diabetes control, you would be advised to go for 30% fat intake.

When selecting meal frequency (3-6) it would be beneficial to keep the macronutrient amounts at meal times consistent. This will make insulin dosing easy and help you achieve the excellent glucose control needed to prevent hyperglycaemia induced catabolism.

Caffeine intake of 5-6mg/kg will very likely lead to higher glucose levels due to stress hormone increase. You may require additional insulin to manage this.

Carbohydrate loading in Peak Week will radically change the macronutrient composition of the meals you have been used to whilst dieting. Therefore, your insulin dosing strategy will require a major adjustment. Extra attention on blood glucose testing will be required.